Known as the Tonga Blue Mushroom Coral, the Rhodactis inchoata is also commonly referred to as the Hairy or Small Elephant Ear Mushroom. This awesome Rhodactis mushroom is a beautiful blue with lime green lashes. The Blue Rhodactis Inchota Mushroom is a violet to sky blue color, with papillae that form cauliflower-like patterns, and can grow up to 3 inches in diameter. Within the order corallimorpharia, there are a number of species of so-called “mushrooms” that make ideal tropical marine reef aquarium inhabitants, and those from the genus Rhodactis are amongst the best. A great coral for beginner reef aquarists in that it is relatively easy to care for and is a very attractive specimen.
Care Level
Easy
Water Flow and Lighting
They prefer a low to moderate water movement, and a lower lighting level. The Bullseye Mushroom is less tolerant of bright light compared to other Rhodactis sp., prefering reduced lighting, which normally requires that is be placed in the lower regions of the aquarium or where it is partially shaded. Lighting can be Power compacts, T5's, LED's or even Metal Halides. All lighting can grow Mushroom Corals as long as the proper level of light is provided. If a Par meter is available the appropriate lighting level is anywhere from a Par 80 all the way to a Par 150. Which is a wide range of acceptability. For lighting spectrum use between a 14-20K color spectrum for your bulbs for best coloration.
Placement
All mushrooms are semi-aggressive and require adequate space between themselves and other corals. Placement can be any where in the aquarium as long as it receives adequate water flow and lighting levels and leaves enough room around your corals that they have room for growth without infringing on another corals growing room or lighting.
Diet and Feeding
Mushroom corals receive the majority of their nutritional requirements through the process of photosynthesis, which simply means their lighting creates symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae in the body of the coral which provides its nutrition. We do recommend providing supplemental food such as micro-plankton or foods designed for filter-feeding invertebrates.
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